Reviews

How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

karis_dl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I really wanted to love this book. It has all my favourite elements: Latina protagonist, four sisters, narratives about family dynamics and coming of age across cultural differences. However, I found the backwards time jumping and the shifting perspectives a little confusing. I also think I went into this thinking it was more of a middle-grade novel and it very much was not. I appreciate the way ALvarez depicts generational cultural divides for immigrant families, and the complications of not living up to familial expectations. I think the book generally covers some really important themes around identity, mental health, and connecting to one's heritage, but I found the writing and pacing to just sort of take me out of it. Not bad by any means, just not for me.

jlobl's review against another edition

inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I didn’t expect this to be vignettes told in fairly random order, but once I caught on, I enjoyed the story of the family across the years. 

gretchencaldwell's review against another edition

3.0

I wanted to love this book. The story line of a family of 4 girls moving to New York from the Dominican Republic and their experience growing up as immigrants sounded fascinating. Unfortunately the story didn't seem to go anywhere and left me disappointed. There were brilliant short stories within the book, but the overall book didn't come together for me.

anayaad's review against another edition

2.0

I really didn’t care for it. It felt disjointed and much of the dialogue was unrealistic. I didn’t grow to like any of the characters either which was disappointing.

drjenndorr's review against another edition

4.0

I love Julia Alvarez as an author, and I loved 85% of this novel. The end was really weird and abrupt, though.

#52bookclub2024 Prompt #10 Told in non-chronological order

kraelwake's review against another edition

4.0

I found How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents to be very charming. Reads like a collection of stories about one family. It starts with the four Garcia de la Torre girls as grown up daughters and goes back in time to when they were children living in the police state of the Dominican Republic in the late 50s and early 60s, illustrating the danger that forced the Garcias to move to the United States. Family, adolescence, childhood, the loss of home and the familiar that comes with immigration, assimilation, personal identity. Warm and funny.

grandpafeathers's review against another edition

2.0

Reeeeeally slow going. Not a plot that a reader can feel super connected to. There aren’t really any major developments in the story or plot which was a bummer.

awalkinthebooks's review against another edition

5.0

A beautiful portrait of family reminiscent of Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton. Not much plot, but plenty of substance, and plenty of buy-in for these characters. When I arrived at the end, I wanted to return to the beginning to remember who each character became.

elingappa's review against another edition

hopeful reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

saras859's review against another edition

3.0

It went backwards in time and it took me a second to get into it. Definition of no plot just vibes but the vibes were not there. I liked the story but I kept losing interest towards the end.